Only 6 percent of South Koreans have favorable impression of Japanese PM
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida speaks during a press conference at the prime minister's official residence in Tokyo, in this Oct. 14 file photo. AP-Yonhap
By Jung Da-min
Only 6 percent of South Koreans have a favorable impression of Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida who took office in early October, a survey showed, Friday.
According to the opinion poll on the leaders of five neighboring countries including the U.S., Japan, China, Russia and North Korea, conducted of 1,000 adults by local pollster Gallup Korea from Tuesday to Thursday, those who said they had a good impression of Kishida recorded the lowest proportion at 6 percent.
About 49 percent of the respondents said that they had a good impression of U.S. President Joe Biden, 19 percent for Russian President Vladimir Putin, 8 percent for Chinese President Xi Jinping and 7 percent for North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.
Koreans had an unfavorable view of Kishida, with 80 percent of the respondents saying they had a negative impression of the new Japanese prime minister.
The pollster attributed the low favorability of the Japanese prime minister to strained bilateral relations between Tokyo and Seoul over historical issues, including compensation for surviving South Korean victims of wartime forced labor and sex slavery during Japan's 1910-45 occupation of the Korean Peninsula.
Koreans also had negative views of former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Kishida's predecessor, with only about 5 percent reporting favorable views in six previous opinion polls since 2013.